THE FLASHLIGHT, October 7 – 13, 2006
Iraq
The best writing on Iraq this week was the essay by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek, 10-16. Excerpts:
“When Iraq’s current government was formed last April, after four months of bitter dispute, wrangling and paralysis, many voices in America and in Iraq said the next six months would be the crucial testing period….The violence has gotten worse, sectarian tensions have risen steeply and ethnic cleansing is in full swing. There is really no functioning government south of Kurdistan, only power vacuums that have been filled by factions, militias, and strongmen. It is time…to recognize that the Iraqi government has failed. It is also time to recognize that the American mission in Iraq has substantially failed….
Iraq is now in a civil war. Thirty thousand [perhaps many, many more] have died there in the past three years….The number of internal refugees, mostly Sunni victims of ethnic cleansing, has exploded over the past few months and now exceeds a quarter of a million people….
President says that if America leaves Iraq now, the violence will get worse, and terrorists could take control. He’s right. But that will be true whenever we leave. ‘Staying the course’ only delays the day of reckoning. To be fair, however, Bush has now defined the only realistic goal left for America’s mission in Iraq: not achieving success for limiting failure.”
10-11, Washington Post. A team of US epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins University and their Iraqi colleagues published an article in Lancet, (UK) that an estimated 601,000 Iraqis have died from violence since March, 2003. US and UN officials were skeptical. The official estimate is 30,000.
North Korea
CNN 10-9 North Korea announced that it had successfully tested a nuclear bomb. This was in violation of promises made to both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. The US Administration is conferring with the East Asian powers about sanctions. The Security Council of the UN voted unanimously to condemn North Korea. Jon Stewart called Kim Jong Il “The Nuke Kid on the Block.”
Nobel Literary Prize
CNN 10-12. The Nobel Literary Prize was awarded to Orhan Pamuk, crusading Turkish liberal novelist, who has been critical of his government and countrymen for their denial of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. He was charged with “anti-Turkishness” last spring, but after pressure from within and abroad, the charges were dropped. He is currently teaching at Columbia University.
New UN Secretary General
NYTimes 10-10. Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea was selected as the new Secretary General of the UN by the Security Council.
The November 7 Election
The Foley Folly has had an impact of voter attitudes.
Times, CNN 10-9. Among those likely to vote, the Democratic lead jumped from 11% to 21%.
NY Times, 10-13. Paul Krugman predicted [other things being the same] that there was a Democratic storm surge likely to overtop the Republican levees. The Democrats lead Republicans by a median count of 14 points.
The Congressional Quarterly 10-11 said that Democrats had gained ground in campaigns for nine Senate seats, and 35 House seats.. Almost all Democrats have improving prospects. To take control they need 15 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate.
PBS 10-10. On the great Republican issue of handling terrorism, Democrats now have a 46 to 41 point advantage.
NY Times 10-7. Republican support has been declining among the elderly, suburbanites, and women.
10-9 CNN. Rep. Jim Kolbe, the only openly gay Repubican member of the House, said that he warned other members about Foley’s seductive electronic messages to pages in 2000, five years before Speaker Hastert acknowledged knowing anything about them.
Commenting on rumors of a secret homosexual network on Capitol Hill, Jon Stewart said that it sounded like the Opus Gayee.
Commenting on Instant Messaging nicknames, Maureen Dowd said that Dennis Hastert was known as the Capitol Rotunda.
Iraq
The best writing on Iraq this week was the essay by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek, 10-16. Excerpts:
“When Iraq’s current government was formed last April, after four months of bitter dispute, wrangling and paralysis, many voices in America and in Iraq said the next six months would be the crucial testing period….The violence has gotten worse, sectarian tensions have risen steeply and ethnic cleansing is in full swing. There is really no functioning government south of Kurdistan, only power vacuums that have been filled by factions, militias, and strongmen. It is time…to recognize that the Iraqi government has failed. It is also time to recognize that the American mission in Iraq has substantially failed….
Iraq is now in a civil war. Thirty thousand [perhaps many, many more] have died there in the past three years….The number of internal refugees, mostly Sunni victims of ethnic cleansing, has exploded over the past few months and now exceeds a quarter of a million people….
President says that if America leaves Iraq now, the violence will get worse, and terrorists could take control. He’s right. But that will be true whenever we leave. ‘Staying the course’ only delays the day of reckoning. To be fair, however, Bush has now defined the only realistic goal left for America’s mission in Iraq: not achieving success for limiting failure.”
10-11, Washington Post. A team of US epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins University and their Iraqi colleagues published an article in Lancet, (UK) that an estimated 601,000 Iraqis have died from violence since March, 2003. US and UN officials were skeptical. The official estimate is 30,000.
North Korea
CNN 10-9 North Korea announced that it had successfully tested a nuclear bomb. This was in violation of promises made to both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. The US Administration is conferring with the East Asian powers about sanctions. The Security Council of the UN voted unanimously to condemn North Korea. Jon Stewart called Kim Jong Il “The Nuke Kid on the Block.”
Nobel Literary Prize
CNN 10-12. The Nobel Literary Prize was awarded to Orhan Pamuk, crusading Turkish liberal novelist, who has been critical of his government and countrymen for their denial of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. He was charged with “anti-Turkishness” last spring, but after pressure from within and abroad, the charges were dropped. He is currently teaching at Columbia University.
New UN Secretary General
NYTimes 10-10. Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea was selected as the new Secretary General of the UN by the Security Council.
The November 7 Election
The Foley Folly has had an impact of voter attitudes.
Times, CNN 10-9. Among those likely to vote, the Democratic lead jumped from 11% to 21%.
NY Times, 10-13. Paul Krugman predicted [other things being the same] that there was a Democratic storm surge likely to overtop the Republican levees. The Democrats lead Republicans by a median count of 14 points.
The Congressional Quarterly 10-11 said that Democrats had gained ground in campaigns for nine Senate seats, and 35 House seats.. Almost all Democrats have improving prospects. To take control they need 15 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate.
PBS 10-10. On the great Republican issue of handling terrorism, Democrats now have a 46 to 41 point advantage.
NY Times 10-7. Republican support has been declining among the elderly, suburbanites, and women.
10-9 CNN. Rep. Jim Kolbe, the only openly gay Repubican member of the House, said that he warned other members about Foley’s seductive electronic messages to pages in 2000, five years before Speaker Hastert acknowledged knowing anything about them.
Commenting on rumors of a secret homosexual network on Capitol Hill, Jon Stewart said that it sounded like the Opus Gayee.
Commenting on Instant Messaging nicknames, Maureen Dowd said that Dennis Hastert was known as the Capitol Rotunda.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 11:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home